(Non-)Fast Food

[BarTopDancer]

I found some lasagna buried in the back of the freezer. It's about a year old and was fine. Same with raw meat - take it out of the package first. Costco has the best deal, usually. Machine + a ton of cut your own size bags.

[RStar]

I got a foodsaver for christmas, it works great!

I freeze soup or stock, stews, chili, pasta sauce, etc. in a plastic container that I can also re-heat it in (ziplock/glad type), then remove it from the container and seal it in a foodsaver bag (it's a lot easier to seal a solid). Then all I have to do is remove it from the bag and place it in the plastic container to cook it in the microwave. Or you can put it in a sauce pot to re-heat if you like.

Also, to freeze potatos:

Boil water and take off heat.

cut potatos and place in hot water right away before they turn brown.

After a 2-3 minutes put in ice water to stop cooking.

Drain well and pat dry, then vacuume seal.

If doing this with shreaded potatos place them in a collander and lower them in the hot water then transfer them in the colander to the ice cold water.

Blanching removes the chemicals that oxidize and change the color, the hot water kills the enzymes, and vacuume sealing keeps it from freezer burning.

One way to do this is to maximize the what you cook on the weekend. I'll cook 2 chickens on the weekend and use the meat in several dishes during the week. You can make pasta sauce and use it for pasta one night, pizza another, and meatball sandwiches another.